I started watching some dota matches, especially PGL, and players tend to pick from a really small group of heroes, like: storm spirit, techies, pugna etc
The meta develops over time as the event goes on. Heroes like techies got a pretty significant buff with their E now providing an aoe stun. Heroes that didn’t get any significant buffs but are showing up in the meta during the event are probably because they fill a role to counter something in the enemies draft. For example, even though storm has not been given any major buffs in 7.33, midlanders that dive the backline have been very popular at the moment and storm fills that role very well.
As the event goes on, the pool of heroes will get larger. Usually groups have less heroes picked than main stage historically I believe.
There have actually been 104 out of 124 (84%) heroes picked in the Bali Major so far. If you only count those picked 10 times or more it’s still 54/124 (44%).
Sure, it’s not even close to a fully even representation, but still, it’s not terrible. The last larger League of Legends tournament had 79 out of 163 (48%) picked at all, with 42/163 (28%) picked 4 times or more (less games in the tourney).
Yeah that doesn’t sound that bad. Maybe I just didn’t watch enough to see more heroes picked
Yeah I mean the main ones were in every game, but there’s always one or three or so non-meta ones sprinkled in. The human mind sees and focuses on patterns quite easily, while it’s harder to see the ones not fitting it :)
Removed by mod
Well it sounds like a good thing, to keep the game fresh, and to jazz things up a little. The only thing I don’t like is when I watch tournaments I always see the same few heroes, and no variety of all :(
Removed by mod
There heroes that are really safe to pick but if you compare with league of legends, dota actually have a big pool on competitive scene. I just think that 7.33 is a bad patch and there is too much overturned heroes and too much bad ones.
Apart from meta which has already been explained, players also play heroes which they’re familiar with. So the saying goes - “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Some players become synonymous with certain heroes because they become such dominant forces in the game when given those heroes. Pros will practice and get exceptionally good at a small pool of heroes rather than play all heroes at a mediocre level.
META
